TV evangelists Benny Hinn, Paula White deny tabloid report of affair

Famed TV evangelists Benny Hinn and Paula White deny having an affair as reported by the National Enquirer in its current newstand edition.

White is pastor of a Florida megachurch and owns a home near Boerne. Hinn is a reknown faith healer based in the Dallas area.

The National Enquirer created a stir in this report about the two, implying the two stayed at the same posh Italian hotel. The tabloid, known for both bending the truth and for getting the John Edwards love-child story right, includes a photo of the two preachers holding hands in Rome.

Hinn and White have said the report is misleading and there is no affair. White’s statement says the two were visiting Vatican officials at the same time, catching up on their longstanding friendship and keeping staff around at all times.

White has been a frequent guest speaker in San Antonio at Place for Life church, formerly called Family Praise Center. She has been listed on the board of directors for this church where divorced, father-son team, Rick and Dustin Hawkins are its pastors.

White went through a second divorce with her ex-husband, Randy White, in 2007. Hinn’s wife filed for divorce earlier this year but it has not been finalized, a point of contention in the Pentecostal Christian community the two are a part of.

If the affair is true, the main question for some is whether the two would be violating biblical warnings against infidelity by the fact that Hinn is still technically married.

Here’s a story on that topic I did a couple years ago in which San Antonio-based evangelist, John Hagee, said he has distanced himself from White.